


Like Strangers

by Anatemnein



Category: Designing Women
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-30 13:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20772674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anatemnein/pseuds/Anatemnein
Summary: Anthony has an unusual idea for a date night with Julia.





	Like Strangers

~~~~

Julia breathed in deeply as she stepped into the restaurant, unconsciously smoothing her hands down over the front of her black velvet dress as she looked around the room, trying to see if Anthony was there. A waiter interrupted her thoughts, asking politely, "Table for one?"

She smiled at him, his thin, boyish face and shaggy hair making him look like a highschooler rather than the 20-something he likely was. "Well, I'm supposed to be meeting my significant other, but I guess he's not here yet, do you mind if I sit at the bar?"

"Sure!" the waiter replied, leading her to the high, glass-topped counter. She smiled politely at the bartender, and said, "A stiff martini, please, with an olive and no ice." He disappeared to the other end of the bar to make her order as she looked around, taking in the atmosphere, and smiling to herself as she studied the upscale restaurant's aesthetics. Usually she and Anthony dined at small, local eateries, mom-and-pop kind of places that reminded her of the food she'd grown up eating, but Anthony had wanted to pull out all the stops and 'really take her out', as he put it.

Thinking about that now, she felt a little sad. The last few weeks had been hectic--a lot of business came through during the latter part of the year--and things had felt a little distant between them lately. Their once near-nightly dates had become sporadic brief encounters. Julia could barely remember the last time she'd spent the night at Anthony's apartment. She'd attempted to broach the subject a few days ago, but once again they'd gotten interrupted by a late-evening client call, and she'd given up the ghost and silently hoped things would just turn around on their own.

She checked her watch, noting it was a little after their agreed upon time of 7 pm. Julia felt a little worried, given that Anthony was almost never late--and never without a good reason--but thought that perhaps, once again, work had come up and she decided to just sip her drink and try to relax. She was reaching for the glass when she heard someone clear their throat to her left. She turned to see Anthony, in a dark suit and white button up shirt, leaning against the bar, gold watch glistening on his wrist.

"Excuse me, are you here alone tonight?" he asked quietly, smiling at her.

"Uh, I--" she stammered, feeling flustered. Part of her had been taken aback at his sudden appearance, and the other part of her was noting the new, tailored suit, and shirt collar with its buttons open far enough to reveal the bit of skin below his collar bone.

"I was just nursing a beer across the room on my own, you mind if I join you?" he continued.

"...Anthony, what are...?"

"You come here by yourself a lot?"

Julia stared at him blankly for a few minutes, trying to decipher whether he'd actually been in some freak-memory destroying accident on his way here, or whether this was some misguided attempt at being funny.

"Anthony, whatever it is you're doing, I--"

"Oh, of course, how rude of me, I didn't introduce myself, I'm Anthony Bouvier" he said calmly, ignoring her indignation and stretching out his hand.

Without thinking she took his hand--now wondering if she'd been transplanted into some unfortunate, alternate universe--when he said, "I'm a partner in a design firm, what do you do?"

She blinked again, slowly starting to realize that this was part of some sort of game he was playing, and she remembered a conversation she'd had with Charlene a few weeks ago, who had been prattling on about how she'd read an article by some self-described 'relationship expert'.

"Come on, Julia, this doesn't sound so bad, why won't you read it?" she'd whined from her desk.

"Because, Charlene, it sounds incredibly stupid. I mean, the idea of you or I going out and pretending that we don't know our partners is so incredibly...straaannge" she'd said then, drawing out the word for emphasis.

"But it could work! I mean, think about it, you meet in a dimly lit restaurant, all dressed up, and pretend to go on a first date like you once did! Isn't that cute, it sounds like a World War II movie where a soldier loses his memory--"

"Charlene!"

Charlene slumped her shoulders, muttering, "Okay, okay" as she turned back to her magazine. Anthony hadn't even been there during that conversation, although Charlene had left the magazine open on her desk when she had to dash out for something later that day. 'You and Your Love Life!' the cover had screamed beside a picture of a sexy looking newcomer. Julia had thought it vomit-inducing and rolled her eyes as she'd grabbed the invoices off of Charlene's desk.

"Anthony, what are--"

"I hope you don't mind me coming over here. It's just that I saw you across the room, looking a little lonely and so I thought I might give it a shot. You're probably meeting someone, I should go--"

"No...no..." Julia stammered, smiling shyly. In spite of her protestations of a few weeks ago, she felt butterflies looking up into Anthony's dark eyes as he looked down at her, and was reminded immediately of their first date--which was not yet when they were dating--at The Southern Plate.

She hesitated for a moment before reaching out a hand and saying quietly, "I'm Julia...Sugarbaker...", breaking eye contact in spite of herself as he took her hand and shook it. She didn't understand it; she had faced tough clients, nerve-wracking business presentations, that disastrous designers conference in New Orleans where all but she had gotten wasted the night prior, all without breaking a sweat. And yet, sitting here in front of her boyfriend of almost two years she felt shy and nervous, her eyes locked on the ground.

Anthony smiled down at Julia, watching as her eyes flit around the room anxiously as she crossed her legs and tugged at her dress. He slid onto the bar stool and said, "Julia, that's a nice name, family name?"

Julia smiled, impressed by his cool composure as she replied, "Um, yes, yes, well no, my mother just liked it, I guess...".

"Mmm," he hummed thoughtfully, "it suits you."

"It does?" she asked, glancing up at him through her lashes.

"Sure, classy, sophisticated. It's a nice name" he said, a gentle smile crossing his face.

She blushed, and looked down at her lap before she said, "What about your name, Anthony, does it have any significance?"

"Well, if picking the first name out of a boy's baby name book is significant than I guess so" he said teasingly.

She giggled, shaking her head. "So, um, what are you doing here, by yourself?"

"Well, I was just sipping a beer in the corner trying to come to terms with that fact that I was likely to spend the rest of eternity all alone."

She blushed again, asking, "No girlfriend, wife...?"

"Not yet."

"That's a surprise" she blurted out, before catching herself, sighing softly and feeling like a complete idiot, like she was Julia-on-a-first-date Julia, which was decidedly different from the terminator she played at the office.

Anthony popped his eyebrows at her and said, "Oh yeah?"

"Oh, um, sure, well, you're handsome, definitely, so it's just a surprise."

Anthony looked at her carefully, remembering that night when she'd first told him she liked him, and how she had struggled to meet his eyes then, holding his hand shyly as she'd looked down at the floor. He'd found that part of her incredibly endearing, and was reminded of how much he liked it as he watched her now, hands fiddling with her dress as her eyes flit around the room.

"Well, it would seem that we're in the same boat then" he said.

"What boat is that?"

"The ship of fools who wait for love to find them in a dimly lit room while they nurse drinks and sit hopelessly on the sidelines."

She laughed, scanning the room for a table. "Do you want to join me for dinner, I mean, if you're interested...?"

Anthony chuckled, standing and offering her his arm as he looked at her flirtatiously. "I am most definitely interested" he said softly as she took his arm. They found a table in a quiet corner of the room and sat down opposite each other, both going silent for a few moments as they studied their menus and placed their orders. As the waiter walked away Anthony looked over to see Julia studying him shyly, hands clasped underneath her chin.

"Can I ask you something?" she said softly, looking at him with an innocence that triggered another memory in him of their early days together.

"Sure" he said gamely, nodding his head.

"...Why did you come talk to me?"

Anthony narrowed his eyes in confusion, and asked, "What do you mean?"

She lowered her hands, tugging at her napkin before replying, "Well, it's just that, you know, I'm a little older than you, probably a good bit older if we're honest, and there's a very attractive woman still sitting up there, about your age..."

"I didn't notice her."

"She's right over th--"

"No, I mean, I was looking at you...so I didn't notice anyone else" he said confidently.

She smiled down at the table, shaking her head at him as he said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Well, of course, yes" she said softly.

"What made you agree to sit with me tonight?"

"How do you mean?"

"Well," Anthony said, setting his beer down on the table, "it's just that you don't know me from Adam, I'm just a strange dude in a nice place and you're a very attractive, obviously successful woman who likely has no problem attracting a man."

She smiled sadly, shrugging her shoulders self-consciously. "Oh, I guess so, I don't know..."

"And yet, here you sit, across from strange-man-in-restaurant Anthony Bouvier. So what gives?" he asked teasingly, leaning forward and cocking a brow at her as he rested his arms on the table.

Julia blushed for what she was sure was the hundredth time as she hesitated. "Wellll...I suppose that...um, I thought that you were handsome, and confident, and genuine," she said, shrugging slightly, "and so I thought, 'Well if he's fool enough to ask...'."

Anthony chuckled, happy to see her finding her confidence a bit as he said, "Well, whatever the case may be, I am glad to share a table with you."

They smiled at each other as the waiter came over, carefully setting their meals in front of them. They ate in silence for a few moments, Julia daintily twirling her pasta on her fork before she set her silverware on the table and reached for her wine glass, clearing her throat. "Well, Anthony, where are you from?"

"Well, Julia, I'm from right here in Atlanta, but not from the same side of the tracks as you're from. My mother was an addict, my grandmother raised me, and I spent time in prison because I was hanging with the wrong crowd and unjustly convicted for something they did. That's a turn-off for most women, so you're more than welcome to leave, I won't be offended."

Julia thought this over momentarily, before saying, "I'm from right here in Atlanta too, as luck would have it. I was raised on the affluent side of the tracks, as you guessed, had a husband who died, one child...and would like to hear more about your incarceration, if that's all right."

"I was the getaway driver for my friends after they decided to rob a gas station. I thought we were just stopping for food, but they were stopping for $600 dollars instead."

"That does sound unjust."

"It was," he said, pausing to take a sip of beer, "but it molded me into the man I am today, so no harm no foul. I never made the same mistake again, and I check my friends very carefully these days."

Julia reached carefully for her wine glass, twirling the stem with her fingers before saying, "Well, I'm not bothered by your past at all. In fact, I appreciate your honesty...and I think the fact that you've come so far is very attractive."

Anthony popped a brow at her, surprised by the flirty remark from the woman who was his girlfriend. No doubt that Julia did flirt and tease him, but she was usually girlishly shy about it. Their little game seemed to have awoken a surge of confidence in her which he was finding himself incredibly drawn to.

"Well, if you don't mind me saying so," he said, leaning over the table toward her as he lowered his voice, "I find your obvious intelligence to be completely disarming, and I think you are a very, very alluring woman, and completely out of my league."

She smirked and bit her lower lip, before leaning toward him and whispering, "As luck would have it, I'm actually well within your league, if you're smart enough to play your cards right."

Anthony felt a twinge of excitement as she winked at him, remembering just how sexy he'd found her husky voice during his interview years ago. She'd smiled up at him that day before beginning the interview as she'd said, "So, tell me about yourself, Anthony". He couldn't remember his response, but he did remember the twinge he felt between his legs when he heard that voice, which had made him feel a little ashamed. Dondi didn't raise him to feel those things toward a woman he barely knew, but yet, looking back now, Anthony realized he'd always been very attracted to Julia, he just never recognized it.

"Would buying you some dessert be considered playing my cards right?" he whispered back to her.

She nodded as she leaned back, seeing the waiter approach them to take their plates as she said, "Something to share, perhaps?"

He smiled and asked the waiter if they had chocolate covered strawberries, and a few minutes later a porcelain tray with six strawberries was set down on their table between them. Anthony watched as Julia took a strawberry off of the plate and bit into it, catching a piece of chocolate between her fingers and looking at him with a mixture of coyness and shyness as she placed it in her mouth.

The conversation continued comfortably between them, with Anthony asking about Julia's favorite music (Bob Dylan), writers (Dostoyevsky), and food (anything, which she'd followed with a shy giggle) as she ascertained the same tidbits about him (Dean Martin, John Grisham, and anything homemade) as they finished off their dessert. Anthony leaned back, studying her for a moment before he said, "Would it be okay with you if I walked you home? I mean, if you're okay being with a stranger in the dark" he said playfully.

"You're not a stranger" she retorted, smiling at him over the rim of her wine glass.

"No? What am I then?"

"Depends on how the evening ends" she said, winking at him as she stood, looking down at him expectantly.

He smirked, quickly scribbling a tip and his signature on the receipt before shoving his wallet in his pocket as he rose to his feet, touching her back gently. The gesture brought back a memory for Julia, who recalled that night at The Southern Plate when Anthony had first laid his hand around her waist as they'd waited for a table. Though he confessed to her later that he hadn't even realized he was doing so, and had been really embarrassed when she'd brought it up, she'd calmed his nerves then by telling him gently, "Well, just so you know, I really enjoyed that". She smiled to herself as they stepped outside and rounded the corner at the end of the street, heading toward her home.

They walked in silence for a few moments before Anthony spoke up, saying quietly to her, "I hope this isn't too forward of me to say on a first date, but I really like you, and I'd really like to see you again sometime, if that's okay with you."

Julia smiled to herself as she looked down at her shoes, pausing before raising her head to look at him as she said, "I'd really like that."

"Is it too forward of me to say that I think you're very beautiful?" he asked softly.

She stopped walking and stepped toward him when he stopped, gently caressing his cheek with her hand as she pulled him closer, kissing him gently on the mouth. He slowly wrapped his hands around her waist, and she deepened the kiss, moaning softly as she bit his lower lip gently. They pulled apart after a few moments and she looked up at him bashfully and whispered, "Is it too forward of me to ask that you spend a little longer with me before you go home tonight?"

Anthony looked down at her and caressed her waist with his hands as he said, "As a matter of fact, I was hoping you'd ask."

She smiled brightly at him and took his hand, lacing her fingers with his as they walked toward her house, hearing the crunch of leaves underfoot as they walked up the stone steps of her front porch. She unlocked the door and clicked on the small lamp atop her desk, walking toward the stereo in the corner of the room and turning it on softly as Anthony shut the door, slowly making his way over to her. Without saying anything, he gently wrapped his arms around her waist as she drew her hands around his neck and they began dancing slowly in the center of the room.

"You know somethin'?" he said softly.

"What's that?" she asked, looking up at him through her lashes.

"I really like you."

"I really like you too" she said, kissing him gently again. "It seems to me there might be more dates in our future."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mm-hm." she hummed quietly. She paused, looking up at him as the moonlight drifted gently behind him through the window of her living room before she said, "Can I confess something?"

"You can."

"Well, I know this is only our first date and everything, but I just wanted to let you know I had a really nice time with you tonight. ...Sometimes, I get so caught up with work that I feel like I forget all about love."

"Well, my grandma used to tell me, 'Anthony, life ain't nothin' without love'."

Julia smiled sadly, shaking her head. "No, no it's not. I have to admit, I've been hoping for a long time that I might meet someone who was special enough to slow me down."

"What about the men before me?"

"They weren't worth it."

"You think I might be?"

"I think you might be everything I need" Julia said softly, stroking his hair.

Anthony leaned forward and kissed her, amazed to feel the same spark of excitement he felt after their very first kiss. They pulled apart after a few moments and he said softly, "You know, I hate to interrupt our time together, but it's getting late, and you have a business to run, and I have a job I have to go to tomorrow myself, so I think we outta call it a night."

"Okay" she said softly, pouting a little before kissing him again. He slowly let go of her and they walked toward the front door, her hand resting gently in his. He stepped out onto the front porch and turned back to her, as she rested herself shyly against the front door, feeling the same butterflies she felt the night of their first kiss as she'd watched him leave.

"So...when can I see you again?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Whenever you'd like."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah" she said, smiling at him. She grabbed his hand again, biting her lip shyly as she said, "You know, I'm so lucky to have met you tonight."

"Me too" he replied, kissing her hand. He let it go after a few moments and said, "Goodnight Julia."

"Goodnight Anthony."

He stepped off of the front porch, and walked slowly to his car, unlocking the door and backing slowly out of her driveway, stopping to wave at her before drifting off into the night.

She watched his car disappear into the darkness, smiling as she felt her heart flutter with excitement in her chest, whispering to herself, "I love you" as she watched him go.

From inside his car, Anthony kept casting glances into his rear view mirror at her house until it faded from view, before he said to himself, "I love you."


End file.
